Generally, both a forward and a rear mount are used to couple an aircraft engine to an aircraft. Both these mounts can have stabilizing pins and/or thrust pins. Stabilizing pins maintain the position of the engine against the force of gravity and thrust pins maintain a fixed relationship between the engine and the airframe when the engine is operating and providing a thrusting force to propel the aircraft forward. Each of these pins is detachably coupled to both the airframe and the aircraft engine casing at fixed locations along the airframe and casing called pickup points. For example, in a wing installation, the aircraft pickup points are usually located along the underside of the wing and the engine pickup points are located along the top of the engine casing. Alternatively, for left side fuselage installation, the aircraft pickup points are located on the left side of the airframe and the engine pickup points are located along the right side of the engine casing. At each of these pickup points, on both the aircraft and engine, there is sufficient structural strength to support both the stabilizing and thrust loads. Consequently, the locations of these pickup points are usually selected during the preliminary design phases of the aircraft and engine to assure that the pickup points on the aircraft are compatible with the pickup points on the engine casing. Once the locations of the pickup points are selected it is very difficult to relocate these points without redesigning either the engine casing or the airframe.
During the life of an aircraft, the engines may become obsolete due to advances in technology, or they may become under powered due to increases in payload requirements. One solution to this problem is to replace the old engines with new engines that are more reliable and efficient. Unfortunately, many of the new engines do not have pickup points that are compatible with the pickup points on the airframe.
Accordingly, a need exists for an engine mount adapter that can be attached at any location along the length and about the circumference of the engine casing so that the engine can be coupled to the airframe even though their respective pickup points are incompatible.